Uronema? Vibrio? Other? What's going on with my tank?

[Colorado]

Hi guys-

I've been dealing with something horrible the last few days within my mixed reef tank (250gallon display, about 340 total gallons) which I think may either be uronema or some sort of bacterial infection (possibly vibrio?). So far I have lost three fish in the last 4 days- a Lyretail Anthias, a Melanarus Wrasse and a Mandarin. Below is a summary of the background, tank parameters and what's transpired and the actions I've taken. Apologies for all the detail- I wanted to get ahead of some of the frequently asked follow up questions I see on the forums.

Quick Background on Aquarium:

I have only put in quarantined fish in my display. I have used Ocean Devotion, Dr. Reef, Marine Collectors, TSM Aquatics in the past. I recently introduced a juvenile Vlamingi Tang from TSM last Thursday and have him in an acclimation box.

Over the past few weeks I have gotten several orders of invertebrates (some from Reef Cleaners (did not QT these), some QT'ed Inverts from Dr. Reef) and I have also added in a few coral frags from my LFS (dipped them, but did not quarantine).

I have dosed ciproflaxin the last few weeks due to a brown jelly outbreak in my torch corals. I suspect this may have had an impact to my nitrifying bacteria and could have caused the potential vibrio/uronema to attack my fish? Unsure but wanted to note since the day I dosed the last bit of cipro is when I noticed my first lyretails symptoms.


Tank Parameters:
78degrees
8.8dkh
480calc
1370mg
0 ammonia (may have had trace amounts after the cipro dosing for brown jelly- so I have been adding in prime to detoxify it)
.11 phosphate (tested after fish deaths, so that number is a little higher than usual)
15.5 nitrates (again higher after deaths)

Saturday 10/14:

I noticed that one of the lyretails had a white line on it's side and appeared to be missing some scales. I was concerned that it may be uronema or a bacterial infection at that point and pulled it out of the display into QT. Ultimately, that lyretail did not make it and passed on 10/16, two days later. You can see the progression and it's death by the pictures below.

I also noticed that my foxface had some sort of ulcer on it's side. In closer observation- it appears to be a scratch. I am not sure if that could have been from one of my tangs or an emerald crab? Over the past few days, I would say that it's been looking better and healing- but i thought it was good to note for this forum in case it also may be impacted.

Sunday 10/15:

Found my melanarus wrasse dead on my sandbed. Had a slight translucent patch about 3/4 of the way down it's back (hard to tell from the picture below).

A second lyretail anthias started displaying a white patch (second set of lyretail pictures). Over the last three days the patch has expanded slightly, but not as quickly as the first one that passed.

I started dosing a food slurry of Metroplex and Kanaplex based on Humble's recipe to my display tank on Sunday.

Monday 10/16:

First lyretail that I put in QT on 10/14 passed.

Tuesday 10/17:

Tank looked fine- no additional symptoms on any other fish and anthias in the display that showed a small white patch appeared to be eating healthy and swimming fine.

Wednesday 10/18:

Found mandarin dead and being eaten by bumblebee snails. Did not appear to be diseased but had it's mouth open when i found it's corpse.

Steps Taken:

-Metro/Kanaplex in food- started on Sunday
-Daily dosing of microbacter7 to replenish any bacteria lost from cipro dosing
-Single dose of Dr. Tim's Eco Balance to reduce Vibrio bacteria (if that's the issue)
-Daily 10% water changes to dilute any toxins in the tank
-Have a UV sterilizer that I've been running daily to help minimize the spread.
-Sent AquaBiomics tests for both DNA and MicroBiome in yesterday for analysis.


Please let me know what you think this could be and any steps that could be helpful with fixing this?

Thanks so much!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys-

I've been dealing with something horrible the last few days within my mixed reef tank (250gallon display, about 340 total gallons) which I think may either be uronema or some sort of bacterial infection (possibly vibrio?). So far I have lost three fish in the last 4 days- a Lyretail Anthias, a Melanarus Wrasse and a Mandarin. Below is a summary of the background, tank parameters and what's transpired and the actions I've taken. Apologies for all the detail- I wanted to get ahead of some of the frequently asked follow up questions I see on the forums.

Quick Background on Aquarium:

I have only put in quarantined fish in my display. I have used Ocean Devotion, Dr. Reef, Marine Collectors, TSM Aquatics in the past. I recently introduced a juvenile Vlamingi Tang from TSM last Thursday and have him in an acclimation box.

Over the past few weeks I have gotten several orders of invertebrates (some from Reef Cleaners (did not QT these), some QT'ed Inverts from Dr. Reef) and I have also added in a few coral frags from my LFS (dipped them, but did not quarantine).

I have dosed ciproflaxin the last few weeks due to a brown jelly outbreak in my torch corals. I suspect this may have had an impact to my nitrifying bacteria and could have caused the potential vibrio/uronema to attack my fish? Unsure but wanted to note since the day I dosed the last bit of cipro is when I noticed my first lyretails symptoms.


Tank Parameters:
78degrees
8.8dkh
480calc
1370mg
0 ammonia (may have had trace amounts after the cipro dosing for brown jelly- so I have been adding in prime to detoxify it)
.11 phosphate (tested after fish deaths, so that number is a little higher than usual)
15.5 nitrates (again higher after deaths)

Saturday 10/14:

I noticed that one of the lyretails had a white line on it's side and appeared to be missing some scales. I was concerned that it may be uronema or a bacterial infection at that point and pulled it out of the display into QT. Ultimately, that lyretail did not make it and passed on 10/16, two days later. You can see the progression and it's death by the pictures below.

I also noticed that my foxface had some sort of ulcer on it's side. In closer observation- it appears to be a scratch. I am not sure if that could have been from one of my tangs or an emerald crab? Over the past few days, I would say that it's been looking better and healing- but i thought it was good to note for this forum in case it also may be impacted.

Sunday 10/15:

Found my melanarus wrasse dead on my sandbed. Had a slight translucent patch about 3/4 of the way down it's back (hard to tell from the picture below).

A second lyretail anthias started displaying a white patch (second set of lyretail pictures). Over the last three days the patch has expanded slightly, but not as quickly as the first one that passed.

I started dosing a food slurry of Metroplex and Kanaplex based on Humble's recipe to my display tank on Sunday.

Monday 10/16:

First lyretail that I put in QT on 10/14 passed.

Tuesday 10/17:

Tank looked fine- no additional symptoms on any other fish and anthias in the display that showed a small white patch appeared to be eating healthy and swimming fine.

Wednesday 10/18:

Found mandarin dead and being eaten by bumblebee snails. Did not appear to be diseased but had it's mouth open when i found it's corpse.

Steps Taken:

-Metro/Kanaplex in food- started on Sunday
-Daily dosing of microbacter7 to replenish any bacteria lost from cipro dosing
-Single dose of Dr. Tim's Eco Balance to reduce Vibrio bacteria (if that's the issue)
-Daily 10% water changes to dilute any toxins in the tank
-Have a UV sterilizer that I've been running daily to help minimize the spread.
-Sent AquaBiomics tests for both DNA and MicroBiome in yesterday for analysis.


Please let me know what you think this could be and any steps that could be helpful with fixing this?

Thanks so much!

Anthias has uronema and foxface has what looks to be an injury/puncture wound.
Mandarin has been mauled by someone in tank and may be from weakened state . Cipro may have played a role as I do not recommend its use especially with fish.
Kanaplex to food along metro is another red flag as manufacturer says seachem can be added but kanaplex is already absorbed by fish and addition to food not needed and same applies to metroplex which must be used precisely at 0.5gm by weight which is a super tiny amount

 

[Colorado]

Hi @vetteguy53081 - thanks so much for the quick response and suggestions. That was my thoughts too on the mandarin and foxface. I wasn't sure on the melanarus and what could have happened to him- I know they are susceptible to uronema but I didn't see any signs on him which led me to believe there may be some sort of bacterial infection. I have a microscope on order so hopefully i can get a sample to confirm if it is uronema.

What would you recommend as next steps? Should I try to get the anthias that is showing signs out of my DT? Try something like Ruby Reef Rally or Hydrogen Peroxide dosing? This is my first battle with uronema- but I certainly want to give my fish the best chances. In your experience does it just typically stick with anthias/chromis?

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi @vetteguy53081 - thanks so much for the quick response and suggestions. That was my thoughts too on the mandarin and foxface. I wasn't sure on the melanarus and what could have happened to him- I know they are susceptible to uronema but I didn't see any signs on him which led me to believe there may be some sort of bacterial infection. I have a microscope on order so hopefully i can get a sample to confirm if it is uronema.

What would you recommend as next steps? Should I try to get the anthias that is showing signs out of my DT? Try something like Ruby Reef Rally or Hydrogen Peroxide dosing? This is my first battle with uronema- but I certainly want to give my fish the best chances. In your experience does it just typically stick with anthias/chromis?

Thanks again for all of your help!

Peroxide likely not. Ruby rally ok but more formalin based for effectiveness. Often with uronema which is an oval ciliated motile protozoan which causes tissue necrosis as seen on fish, this can be triggered by low salinity levels as well as excess food waste on tank bottom which this protozoan can feed on as often prevention can be more valuable than cure for this.
Fish will have to be quarantined and treated with formalin based treatment which is harder to find, so next option is Ruby rally Pro or even Chloroquine Phosphate will also work but must be used precisely.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi guys-

I've been dealing with something horrible the last few days within my mixed reef tank (250gallon display, about 340 total gallons) which I think may either be uronema or some sort of bacterial infection (possibly vibrio?). So far I have lost three fish in the last 4 days- a Lyretail Anthias, a Melanarus Wrasse and a Mandarin. Below is a summary of the background, tank parameters and what's transpired and the actions I've taken. Apologies for all the detail- I wanted to get ahead of some of the frequently asked follow up questions I see on the forums.

Quick Background on Aquarium:

I have only put in quarantined fish in my display. I have used Ocean Devotion, Dr. Reef, Marine Collectors, TSM Aquatics in the past. I recently introduced a juvenile Vlamingi Tang from TSM last Thursday and have him in an acclimation box.

Over the past few weeks I have gotten several orders of invertebrates (some from Reef Cleaners (did not QT these), some QT'ed Inverts from Dr. Reef) and I have also added in a few coral frags from my LFS (dipped them, but did not quarantine).

I have dosed ciproflaxin the last few weeks due to a brown jelly outbreak in my torch corals. I suspect this may have had an impact to my nitrifying bacteria and could have caused the potential vibrio/uronema to attack my fish? Unsure but wanted to note since the day I dosed the last bit of cipro is when I noticed my first lyretails symptoms.


Tank Parameters:
78degrees
8.8dkh
480calc
1370mg
0 ammonia (may have had trace amounts after the cipro dosing for brown jelly- so I have been adding in prime to detoxify it)
.11 phosphate (tested after fish deaths, so that number is a little higher than usual)
15.5 nitrates (again higher after deaths)

Saturday 10/14:

I noticed that one of the lyretails had a white line on it's side and appeared to be missing some scales. I was concerned that it may be uronema or a bacterial infection at that point and pulled it out of the display into QT. Ultimately, that lyretail did not make it and passed on 10/16, two days later. You can see the progression and it's death by the pictures below.

I also noticed that my foxface had some sort of ulcer on it's side. In closer observation- it appears to be a scratch. I am not sure if that could have been from one of my tangs or an emerald crab? Over the past few days, I would say that it's been looking better and healing- but i thought it was good to note for this forum in case it also may be impacted.

Sunday 10/15:

Found my melanarus wrasse dead on my sandbed. Had a slight translucent patch about 3/4 of the way down it's back (hard to tell from the picture below).

A second lyretail anthias started displaying a white patch (second set of lyretail pictures). Over the last three days the patch has expanded slightly, but not as quickly as the first one that passed.

I started dosing a food slurry of Metroplex and Kanaplex based on Humble's recipe to my display tank on Sunday.

Monday 10/16:

First lyretail that I put in QT on 10/14 passed.

Tuesday 10/17:

Tank looked fine- no additional symptoms on any other fish and anthias in the display that showed a small white patch appeared to be eating healthy and swimming fine.

Wednesday 10/18:

Found mandarin dead and being eaten by bumblebee snails. Did not appear to be diseased but had it's mouth open when i found it's corpse.

Steps Taken:

-Metro/Kanaplex in food- started on Sunday
-Daily dosing of microbacter7 to replenish any bacteria lost from cipro dosing
-Single dose of Dr. Tim's Eco Balance to reduce Vibrio bacteria (if that's the issue)
-Daily 10% water changes to dilute any toxins in the tank
-Have a UV sterilizer that I've been running daily to help minimize the spread.
-Sent AquaBiomics tests for both DNA and MicroBiome in yesterday for analysis.


Please let me know what you think this could be and any steps that could be helpful with fixing this?

Thanks so much!

Thanks for the detailed report, that helps a lot. However, this is a complicated case.

The orange anthias clearly had uronema. However, that shows up mostly in newly acquired fish, was this a long term captive? The oval/round lesion on the foxface is how some external bacteria grows on fish's skin. The mandarin does appear to have been picked on. I can't tell much from the wrasse.

What fish remain? Are they symptoms free?

Here is one thing that a lot of people miss - Uronema primarily eats bacteria as a food source. In internal infections, it does consume fish cells, we don't know why. So - mixed infections are really common, where the bacteria infects the fish and the Uronema comes along to eat the bacteria.

I think the AquaBiomics testing may tell you something, but be aware that most gram negative, external bacterial infections of fish are caused by normally found bacterial species. Same with Uronema - that can be isolated from many established tanks.

I wonder if the addition of cipro upset your microbiome? You say you are running your "UV daily" - that should be on 24 hours a day.

Then, you wrote this: "I started dosing a food slurry of Metroplex and Kanaplex based on Humble's recipe to my display tank on Sunday."

I read this sort of thing all of the time, but I can't seem to get people to understand - you cannot dose most medications orally, without knowing the weight of the fish. Especially Kanaplex, it is toxic if overdosed. With Metroplex, if you overdose that, it is bitter and the fish just won't eat it. Metroplex can be dosed orally as a percentage of weight in food (1%) but Kanaplex needs to be dosed at 50 mg / kg of fish weight daily.

Here is my article on dosing foods:

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods Jay Hemdal c. 2020 Oral medications are an excellent way to target internal diseases of fishes. Marine fish absorb aquarium water, so in certain cases, they “drink” enough medication from the water to effect a cure. However, freshwater fish actively export...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Colorado]

Hi @Jay Hemdal - thanks for the detailed response.

I had a group of 9 lyretails (8 now). They had been in my tank since March (7 months) with no issues at all, none of the lyretails were new additions. The only new additions have been the Vlamingi from TSM and a few invert orders from Dr. Reef and Reef Cleaners over the last several weeks. I do have a few tangs in quarantine currently (2 purples, yellow, hippo). Would me putting them in my display in the near future jeopardize their health if uronema impacts new additions? I know they're not one of the typical species impacted but I certainly don't want to put them in harms way.

As far as fish that still remain- I have the 8 lyretails (only one displaying symptoms- the two pictures above), a copperband, foxface, fairy wrasse, watanabei/bellus angels, flame angel, royal gramma, 2 bangaii cardinals, flame/longnose hawks, midas/starry/bicolor blennies, desjardini sailfin, gem, white tail tang, ruby red scooter blenny, a blue throat trigger as well as a pair of clowns. None of them apart from the one anthias pictured above and the foxface appear to be showing any symptoms- the foxface is looking even better this morning.

I had been turning off the UV periodically for a few hours after dosing the microbacter7/Dr. Tim's Eco Balance since both instruct to keep your skimmer/UV off after they are dosed. Is it worth me continuing to dose or is that potentially doing more harm than good?

Also both you and @vetteguy53081 mentioned that it can feed on bacteria and detritus- I would say my sandbed is fairly clean but there definitely is a decent amount of detritus in my refugium under some of the rocks. Is that worth turning off the return pumps and cleaning/siphoning out or would stirring that up potentially cause further issues if it's kicking up unwanted pests?

Thank you both for the tips on feeding- it seems like just solely doing the metroplex/focus in the food would be the best option for now and skipping the kanaplex since I don't have a way to measure it that granularly?

Any other actions/thoughts I should be taking in the interim? I'll try to get a sample of the other impacted anthias- but they can be hard to catch. Should i try to isolate that one too? I don't want to unnecessarily add more stress to the rest of the tank, but if it will help the others and limit the spread it's certainly worthwhile.

I have Ruby Reef Rally on hand but I've heard mixed reviews on if it's safe with coral.

Thanks so much!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi @Jay Hemdal - thanks for the detailed response.

I had a group of 9 lyretails (8 now). They had been in my tank since March (7 months) with no issues at all, none of the lyretails were new additions. The only new additions have been the Vlamingi from TSM and a few invert orders from Dr. Reef and Reef Cleaners over the last several weeks. I do have a few tangs in quarantine currently (2 purples, yellow, hippo). Would me putting them in my display in the near future jeopardize their health if uronema impacts new additions? I know they're not one of the typical species impacted but I certainly don't want to put them in harms way.

As far as fish that still remain- I have the 8 lyretails (only one displaying symptoms- the two pictures above), a copperband, foxface, fairy wrasse, watanabei/bellus angels, flame angel, royal gramma, 2 bangaii cardinals, flame/longnose hawks, midas/starry/bicolor blennies, desjardini sailfin, gem, white tail tang, ruby red scooter blenny, a blue throat trigger as well as a pair of clowns. None of them apart from the one anthias pictured above and the foxface appear to be showing any symptoms- the foxface is looking even better this morning.

I had been turning off the UV periodically for a few hours after dosing the microbacter7/Dr. Tim's Eco Balance since both instruct to keep your skimmer/UV off after they are dosed. Is it worth me continuing to dose or is that potentially doing more harm than good?

Also both you and @vetteguy53081 mentioned that it can feed on bacteria and detritus- I would say my sandbed is fairly clean but there definitely is a decent amount of detritus in my refugium under some of the rocks. Is that worth turning off the return pumps and cleaning/siphoning out or would stirring that up potentially cause further issues if it's kicking up unwanted pests?

Thank you both for the tips on feeding- it seems like just solely doing the metroplex/focus in the food would be the best option for now and skipping the kanaplex since I don't have a way to measure it that granularly?

Any other actions/thoughts I should be taking in the interim? I'll try to get a sample of the other impacted anthias- but they can be hard to catch. Should i try to isolate that one too? I don't want to unnecessarily add more stress to the rest of the tank, but if it will help the others and limit the spread it's certainly worthwhile.

I have Ruby Reef Rally on hand but I've heard mixed reviews on if it's safe with coral.

Thanks so much!

The long time frame does make uronema much less likely, but visually, it still looks like it. I sometimes need to do skin scrapes and look at a wet mount under a microscope to confirm it though.

I understand about turning off the UV after dosing bacteria, I wasn't sure, so I asked. I've had people running UVs only part time for no apparent reason (grin).

Jay

Jay

 

[Colorado]

Hi @Jay Hemdal

Yeah- that was my thinking too, strange that it would just show itself now. I'll let you guys know if I'm able to get a skin scrape.

Would you recommend I keep doing the food slurry (with metro only)? Is the daily dosing of microbacter7 after the cipro potentially hurting my microbiome useful at all or could that be detrimental for fueling a potential bacterial infection?

 

[MnFish1]

Hi @Jay Hemdal - thanks for the detailed response.

I had a group of 9 lyretails (8 now). They had been in my tank since March (7 months) with no issues at all, none of the lyretails were new additions. The only new additions have been the Vlamingi from TSM and a few invert orders from Dr. Reef and Reef Cleaners over the last several weeks. I do have a few tangs in quarantine currently (2 purples, yellow, hippo). Would me putting them in my display in the near future jeopardize their health if uronema impacts new additions? I know they're not one of the typical species impacted but I certainly don't want to put them in harms way.

As far as fish that still remain- I have the 8 lyretails (only one displaying symptoms- the two pictures above), a copperband, foxface, fairy wrasse, watanabei/bellus angels, flame angel, royal gramma, 2 bangaii cardinals, flame/longnose hawks, midas/starry/bicolor blennies, desjardini sailfin, gem, white tail tang, ruby red scooter blenny, a blue throat trigger as well as a pair of clowns. None of them apart from the one anthias pictured above and the foxface appear to be showing any symptoms- the foxface is looking even better this morning.

I had been turning off the UV periodically for a few hours after dosing the microbacter7/Dr. Tim's Eco Balance since both instruct to keep your skimmer/UV off after they are dosed. Is it worth me continuing to dose or is that potentially doing more harm than good?

Also both you and @vetteguy53081 mentioned that it can feed on bacteria and detritus- I would say my sandbed is fairly clean but there definitely is a decent amount of detritus in my refugium under some of the rocks. Is that worth turning off the return pumps and cleaning/siphoning out or would stirring that up potentially cause further issues if it's kicking up unwanted pests?

Thank you both for the tips on feeding- it seems like just solely doing the metroplex/focus in the food would be the best option for now and skipping the kanaplex since I don't have a way to measure it that granularly?

Any other actions/thoughts I should be taking in the interim? I'll try to get a sample of the other impacted anthias- but they can be hard to catch. Should i try to isolate that one too? I don't want to unnecessarily add more stress to the rest of the tank, but if it will help the others and limit the spread it's certainly worthwhile.

I have Ruby Reef Rally on hand but I've heard mixed reviews on if it's safe with coral.

Thanks so much!

Agree with @Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081. You could have had uronema in your tank for a long while - and something upset the apple-cart (so to speak). I would just make a general comment - And I wonder like Jays comment. It is my impression that once uronema is visible, that it's extremely difficult to treat/cure.

My only other general comment is that you should consider medication toxicity as well especially with the combinations. Cipro is a very broad spectrum antibiotic, and could have easily hurt your nitrification, and even the internal bacteria in the fish - which can function to prevent internal infections.

If you can, I would tend to treat the fox face in a hospital tank, with kanamycin. With regards to the remaining anthias - I am not sure I would use formalin.

Sorry you're going through this - its extremely difficult to treat fish in a large tank - and it sounds like you used the proper QT procedures (though I suppose uronema could have come in with one of the recent coral purchases or your cleanup crew)

 

[Colorado]

Thanks @MnFish1 for the insights- that's a really good point too regarding mixing the medications and potential toxicity. I think I'll run some carbon just to help remove any residual cipro if it's still lingering in the water column.

Here's a picture of the fish today- all of the other inhabitants look fine and aren't showing any signs/symptoms. The foxface has definitely healed quite a bit over the last few days and the brown patch is noticeably smaller. The one lyretail still has about the amount of white patch and I would say looks about the same as yesterday (same anthias pictured in the last picture in the first post).

I did introduce 10 very large emerald crabs recently- is it possible that they are injuring the fish (mandarin/foxface/anthias) and potentially wounding them and causing a secondary infection (whether that be uronema or bacterial)? I know that sounds ridiculous but they are VERY large emeralds- i just don't know how opportunistic they are and if that would be far-fetched. I haven't seen any aggression towards the mandarin fish wise- so figured it may have been an emerald. Just a thought....

If it is uronema- wouldn't it typically spread to the other anthias faster than what I'm seeing? Is there any other signs i should look out for? Any other steps you would suggest?

Thanks so much for the support!

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks @MnFish1 for the insights- that's a really good point too regarding mixing the medications and potential toxicity. I think I'll run some carbon just to help remove any residual cipro if it's still lingering in the water column.

Here's a picture of the fish today- all of the other inhabitants look fine and aren't showing any signs/symptoms. The foxface has definitely healed quite a bit over the last few days and the brown patch is noticeably smaller. The one lyretail still has about the amount of white patch and I would say looks about the same as yesterday (same anthias pictured in the last picture in the first post).

I did introduce 10 very large emerald crabs recently- is it possible that they are injuring the fish (mandarin/foxface/anthias) and potentially wounding them and causing a secondary infection (whether that be uronema or bacterial)? I know that sounds ridiculous but they are VERY large emeralds- i just don't know how opportunistic they are and if that would be far-fetched. I haven't seen any aggression towards the mandarin fish wise- so figured it may have been an emerald. Just a thought....

If it is uronema- wouldn't it typically spread to the other anthias faster than what I'm seeing? Is there any other signs i should look out for? Any other steps you would suggest?

Thanks so much for the support!

Cipro also degrades fairly quickly if in light, but carbon is not going to hurt.

Not every fish will get uronema, just like in a school if one child gets strep throat, some others may get it, but not all. I would continue to watch carefully.

PS you're welcome

 

[Colorado]

Thanks @MnFish1 - from what I've been seeing it's predominately anthias and chromis that are impacted? I know some butterflies/angels as well, but just trying to hone in on what the damage may be and keeping a vigilant eye on them!

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks @MnFish1 - from what I've been seeing it's predominately anthias and chromis that are impacted? I know some butterflies/angels as well, but just trying to hone in on what the damage may be and keeping a vigilant eye on them!

Yes - it is more common in those fish

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi @Jay Hemdal

Yeah- that was my thinking too, strange that it would just show itself now. I'll let you guys know if I'm able to get a skin scrape.

Would you recommend I keep doing the food slurry (with metro only)? Is the daily dosing of microbacter7 after the cipro potentially hurting my microbiome useful at all or could that be detrimental for fueling a potential bacterial infection?

Sorry, I don’t know anything about microbacter7.

Metro fed at 1% in food helps against internal gut protozoans like Hexamita, but I don’t know if it works against Uronema, which is more deeply seated in the fish’s muscle tissue.

Jay

 

[Colorado]

Hi guys-

Here's the latest- i've been observing a lot today and noticed that my flame angel has what appears to be a few loose scales on it's underside (second picture for reference). They aren't noticeable at all unless the light reflects on it and then you can see it (first pic is what it looks like without the light reflecting on it).

Not sure if it's cause for concern yet but wanted to share and document my experience and see if you had any additional commentary/thoughts.

Again- appreciate everyone and the thoughtful responses- this community is great!

 

[Colorado]

Hi guys-

I just wanted to provide an update and some good news! The foxface appears to be healing well- the wound is getting smaller and the white patch on the impacted anthias has gotten smaller and is almost non-existent. I have been continuing the microbacter7 daily dosing, 10% water changes and feeding a food slurry of metroplex (and minimal amounts of kanaplex based on the feedback above).

Not sure I'm fully in the clear but wanted to share the progress in case someone else is going through a similar situation!

 

[MnFish1]

Hi guys-

I just wanted to provide an update and some good news! The foxface appears to be healing well- the wound is getting smaller and the white patch on the impacted anthias has gotten smaller and is almost non-existent. I have been continuing the microbacter7 daily dosing, 10% water changes and feeding a food slurry of metroplex (and minimal amounts of kanaplex based on the feedback above).

Not sure I'm fully in the clear but wanted to share the progress in case someone else is going through a similar situation!

Nice!. So in the end you decided against a hospital tank? I don't know about the anthias but the fox face looks wonderful

 

[Colorado]

Correct- i felt the water quality was easier to control in my display than my 20g QT tanks and I didn't want to add additional stress to the foxface (he was our first fish- so sentimental). He's been eating voraciously and I've just been trying to ensure he gets the proper nutrition. Anthias is nearly 100% normal and the flame angel scale issue I referenced above seems to be 100% fine now too. Will keep the group posted if there's any regression but really encouraged to see the progress.

Thanks for all of your help @MnFish1 @vetteguy53081 and @Jay Hemdal - you guys are awesome and thank you for all of your support. Appreciate all you do for this community

 

[MnFish1]

Correct- i felt the water quality was easier to control in my display than my 20g QT tanks and I didn't want to add additional stress to the foxface (he was our first fish- so sentimental). He's been eating voraciously and I've just been trying to ensure he gets the proper nutrition. Anthias is nearly 100% normal and the flame angel scale issue I referenced above seems to be 100% fine now too. Will keep the group posted if there's any regression but really encouraged to see the progress.

Thanks for all of your help @MnFish1 @vetteguy53081 and @Jay Hemdal - you guys are awesome and thank you for all of your support. Appreciate all you do for this community

How long are you planning to use the kanamycin/metronidazole?

 

[Colorado]

I was thinking maybe between 10-12 days just to be safe, since I wouldn't want to stop them prematurely and for something to resurface. For reference I started them on 10/15 so this will be the 8th day. Do you have any suggestions there?